Safety pin for sanitary napkins or the like



Jan. 1963 M. :2. Y. D E JOCOMA 3,360,834

SAFETY PIN FOR SANITARY NAPKINS OR THE LIKE Filed Jan. 26, 1966 United States Patent 3,360,834 SAFETY PIN FOR SANITARY NAPKINS OR THE LIKE Marjorie Bell Y. De Jocoma, 1118 S. Masselin St., Los Angeles, Calif. 90019 Filed Jan. 26, 1966, Ser. No. 523,085 4 Claims. (Cl. 24-87) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A safety pin having a plurilty of projecting elements adapted for retaining the cloth strip portion of a sanitary napkin in order to retain the same in a desired position with respect to the clothing of the wearer and to neatly arrange the cloth in order to eliminate unsightly bulges in the clothing.

Description The present invention relates generally to an improved form of safety pin used tofasten pieces of cloth together. More specifically, the .present invention is directed to a safety pin to be used for attaching a sanitary napkin having strips of cloth attached thereto to the clothing of the wearer. 1 1

A large variety of devices have been made and sold in the past in an eifortto provide a satisfactory means for securely and comfortably attaching a sanitary napkin to the body of the wearer. Such sanitary napkins customan'ly are supplied'with elongated strips of material attached'to the absorbent portion thereof. The articles employed for attachingsuch napkins to the body generally are of the type which engage these elongate strips of material. Such devices are generally of two types. The first of such types consists of a belt designed to encircle the body and having various forms of clamps or buckles securely attached thereto. The second of such types consistsof'separate clamps, buckles or p ns designed to engage the cloth strips and attach to the clothing of the wearer. The second class would include the common safety pin.

The difiiculty encountered with the first class of articles, is that the belt is uncomfortable to wear and for some types of people does not provide adequate support. In the second class of goods, the safety pin as well asthe other types of buckles or clamps, while providing adequate support, frequently produce unsightly bulges in the clothing. In addition, the ordinary safety pin will not make a secure attachment to the clothing or to the cloth strip as it will often pull sideways rotating the safety pin so that the cloth bunches up at one end.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved pin for attaching pieces of cloth together.

More specifically, it is an object of this invention to provide an improved form of safety pin to be used in conjunction with a sanitary napkin or the like to securely attach the same to the clothing of the person, providing improved support, while drastically reducing the likelihood of an unsightly bulge in the clothing.

Further objects and advantages of the present invention will become obvious upon reading the following detailed description in conjunction with the drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view showing the pin attached to a belt or waist band and retaining a strip of cloth therein.

FIGURE 2 is a plan view, partially in section, of the pin.

3,360,834 Patented Jan. 2, 1968 FIGURE 3 is a sectional side view taken substantially along the line 3-3 of FIGURE 1.

The pin, generally designated 10, is shown in FIG- URE 1 attached to a waist band 11. The band 11 may be that of some undergarment or portion thereof, or a separate belt. Obviously, pin 10 could be secured to any convenient portion of the undergarments. Pin 10 consists of a clasp 12 having a customary design whereby it retains permanently therein one end of the pin wire 13 as shown by the crimping at 14. The piercing element 15 of the pin wire 13 is retained in the clasp 12 and engages the upper portion thereof in the usual manner. This forms an upper aperture similar to that formed by the common safety pin.

The back portion 16 of the pin wire 13 on the side opposite the piercing element 15, is bent at 17 and 17a forming the side members 18 and 19 extending away from the piercing element 15, which are joined by the bottom member 20 forming a lower aperture 25 joining the upper aperture. A clot-h engaging body 21 is secured to the back portion 16 at a point below the bends 17 and 17a extending along the bottom member 20. This body 21 has a number of upwardly extending projections 22 having relatively sharp spikes or prongs 23 thereon. The projections 22 are spaced somewhat apart and are formed with relatively gradually curving sides forming the rounded valleys 24 therebetween. The smooth curvature of the sides of the projections 22 and the valleys 24 permit the extension of a strip of cloth 26 through the pin 10 as shown in FIGURE 1 without severe gathering of the material creating sharp folds,

lumps or knots. The strip of material 26 is engaged by the sharp prongs 23 as can be seen in FIGURE 3, retaining the material in its desired position. At the same time, those portions of the material 26 which are posit oned between the prongs 23 can be neatly arranged in the valleys 24 to form smooth folds.

While the drawing showsonly two projections 22, it will be understood that a different number of such projections may be employed as desired. The body 21 may be formed by molding a plastic material around the bottom member 20 of the pin wire 13, and the member 20 would extend entirely through the pin body or may terminate at the point 27 shown in FIGURE 2. Likewise, the pin wire 13 and body 18 may be molded of a single material if desired. While the description of the invention has been particularly confined to its application in conjunction with sanitary napkins, it will be obvious that its use will be advantageous in other instances where a secure attachment between pieces of cloth is required without creating a bulky appearance. As a further advantage of this invention, it will be noted that once the piercing element 15 has been secured to the appropriate portion of the garment of the wearer, the cloth material 26 may be inserted or removed quickly and easily without removal of the pin from the garment.

While a particular embodiment of the present invention has been shown and described, it will be obvious to persons skilled in the art that changes and modificati-ons might be made without departing from this invention in its broader aspects. It is the aim of the appended claims to cover all such changes and modifications as fall within the true scope and spirit of this invention.

I claim:

1. An improved safety pin of the type having a clasp and a pin wire, said safety pin adapted for securely retaining an end portion of a cloth sanitary napkin in a desired neatly arranged position relative to a supportmg member, said pin wire having one end thereof securely mounted in said clasp, the other end of said pin wire forming a piercing element adapted to be engaged in said clasp, said piercing element adapted to readily portion mounted upon said pm wire intermediate the ends thereof in a common plane with the clasp and the pin wire, said body portion having a plurality of projections which extend toward the piercing element and which are sinusoidally rounded; said projections having prongs thereon which are sharply pointed and have tapered edges whereby said prongs are adapted to pierce a portion of cloth extending thereover,

2. An improved Safety pin of the type having a clasp and a pin wire whereby said pin is adapted for securely retaining" an end portion of a cloth sanitary napkin in a desired neatly arranged position relative to a supporting member, said pin wire having one end securely attached to said clasp, the other, end of said pin wire forming a movable piercing element adapted to readily pierce the supporting member, said pin wire having a bend therein separating said wire into a piercing element portion and a back portion, a cloth engaging body portion positioned upon said wire in the back portion thereof, said body portion lying in a plane common to the clasp and the pin wire, said back portion having a recess portion extending away from said piercing element portion and providing an aperture, said body having a plurality of projections extending into said aperture toward'said' piercing element, said projections being sinusoidally rounded, said projections having cloth engaging prongs thereon which are sharply pointed and which have tapered edges. I

3; An improved safety pin of the type having a clasp and a pin wire adapted forsecurely retaining an end portion" of a cloth sanitary napkin in a desired neatly arranged position and relative to a supporting member wherein said wire" has one end securely attached to said clasp and the other end forming a movable piercing element and wherein said wire has a bend therein separating said wire into a piercing element portion and a back portion, said improvement comprising a cloth engaging body portion positioned along said wire in the back portion thereof, said body portion lying in a plane common with the clasp and the pin wire, said back portioiihaving a' recess portion extending away from said piercing element and providing an aperture, said body portion having a plurality of projections extending into said aperture toward the piercing element, said projections being sinusoidally rounded and having prongs thereon which are sharply pointed and which have tapered edges adapted to engage cloth thereon.

4. A safety pin adapted forsecurely retaining an end portion of a cloth sanitary napkin in.a desired neatly arranged manner relative to a' supporting member, said pin comprising a clasp, a pin wire having one end securely mounted in said clasp whereby said wire extends away from said clasp, the other end of said Wire having a point thereon and forming a movable piercing element, said piercing element adapted to readily pierce said supporting member, said piercing element extending toward said clasp and adapted to beengaged therein; a bend intermediate the ends of said Wire separating said wire into a piercing element portion and a back portion and forming a first aperture therebetween; said back portion having arecess' portion wherein said wire is bent away from' said piercing element portion and having side members and a bottom memberto form a second aperture; a cloth engaging" bodymounted in said recess portion and positioned upon said bottom member, said body portion lying in atplane common with the clasp and the pin wire, said body having a plurality of spaced projections extending into said second aperture toward the piercing element portion, said projections being sinusoidally rounded to provide cloth receiving valleys between said projections and between said side members said projections having prongs thereon which are sharply pointed and have tapered edges.

References Cited UNITED STA ES PATENTS 346,262 7/1886 Braddock 24 -73 603,899 5/1898 G'orton 24--76 1,245,655 11/1917 Allen a 12 -2'89 2,211,137 8/1940 Lesselbaurn 128 291 2,765,510 10/1956 Rightor et a1. 24-264 XR FOREIGN PATENTS 2,716 1904 Great Britain.

DONALD A. GRIFFIN, Primary Examine 

